Websites to aid in effort to crackdown on drug activity

A network of new websites unveiled in Beaumont on Monday will give local cops more muscle to fight illegal drugs, trafficking and cartels, said top law enforcement officials.

StopDrugsJeffersonCounty.org, and five other websites like it, are aimed at potential crime tipsters and substance abusers in Southeast Texas.

The Jefferson County site will include facts on drug use in the area and will offer a space for folks to report suspected dealers, grow houses or meth labs.

The web portals are a project of the Houston High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area coalition, known as HIDTA, which is a collaboration of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies in 17 counties.

Jefferson County Sheriff Mitch Woods, who serves on the HIDTA executive board, said the initiative is good for all segments of the community.

"There's even an opportunity for drug users that are seeking help to find a resource on there that will be able to assist them," Woods said during a Monday news conference at the Jack Brooks Federal Building.

U.S. Attorney John M. Bales called the project a "ground floor" operation funded by the federal government but run by local officials and built on local priorities.

"The spike in violence here in Beaumont, I'm quite sure, is connected to the narcotics problems that we all are too familiar with," Bales said.

Officials said Monday that people who go to the websites will not be monitored or tracked by IP addresses.

The Jefferson County website and five other portals, which were launched last week in the greater Houston area, can be viewed in English, Spanish and Vietnamese in an attempt to target an area populated by nearly 6 million Texans.